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Selecter celebrates 35th anniversary

The Selecter is celebrating a special anniversary in style.

The ska/two-tone veterans are bringing their 35th anniversary tour down under this October, it was recently announced. The trek will come just days after their first tour of New Zealand, which will stop at Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland. The Australian trip will then include stops in Perth, Adelaide, Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne, with two dates locked in for the capital.

The Selecter say they will perform their classic debut LP "Too Much Pressure" in full at each show, along with a handful of other favorites.

"We thought our 35th anniversary would be the perfect time to revisit our very first album and perform it in full," said Pauline Black a press release. "We can't wait to get on the road to bring our message of multiculturalism from across 4 decades to venues up and down the land. See you there!"

The Selecter will join up with an outfit called The Levellers for portions of the UK tour, with dates that run from October 29th through November 22nd.

Currently, The Selecter are tearing up the festival circuit. They are booked July 27th for the Swarte Cross Festival in the Netherlands, and in August will play the Ska & Mod Festival, the Rebellion Festival, the Bingley Music Festival and the Feelgood Festival in the U.K.

The Selecter offers its "String Theory" (Created May 8, 2013)

How many bands can say they got their big start not on a hit single, but instead on a purely instrumental track? The Selecter can and did, helping out England's Specials for their own debut and spinning off the name into a band.

Formed in 1979, The Selecter features a diverse line-up backed by the songs of Neol Davies, the voice of Pauline Black and Desmond Brown tickling the keys of the Hammond organ. They also had Crompton Amanor and Charles Bainbridge on drums, and Charlie Anderson on bass helping to round out a lineup bolstered by a name which is the Jamaican word for disc jockey.

The band's 1980 album debut featured renowned ska trombonist Rico Rodriguez and was the catalyst to a string of successful singles, including "On My Radio," "Three Minute Hero" and "Missing Words." Despite those songs climbing the charts, Black left in 1981 and recorded her own material before concentrating mostly of acting. She served as a hostess on a game show and was nominated for a Time Out Award for Best Actress in 1990 thanks to her portrayal of Billie Holiday, but ultimately rejoined The Selecter.

It was 1991 by the time a ska revival in London gained traction, and a re-formation of the band culminated in the release of their first new material in more than a decade. Still, Black also continued to perform and release under The Selecter name until 2006, and fans were confused over the competing lineups as late as 2011. That's when Black applied for the trademark and secured the name.

In 2013, The Selecter released a new studio album entitled "String Theory."